For those of you who've been following, I'm a State Senator and candidate for Congress here in Maine's First District (our current representative, Tom Allen, is getting ready to knock Susan Collins out of the Senate).  Since Monday is the end of the first quarter, and that's always a major event on the campaign trail, I thought I'd look back at what we've accomplished over the last three months, and where we'll be going in the weeks ahead, as we approach the Democratic primary and the November general election.

If you like what we're doing here in Maine, please show your support via ActBlue.  (Fundraising is tough when you've sworn off PAC and lobbyist contributions, so individual supporters are that much more important to our campaign.)

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It was déjà vu all over again when I picked up the paper this week and read that Senator Susan Collins had recently discovered we have a healthcare crisis in this country and proclaimed, "It is long overdue for us to tackle this issue."

How is she planning to "tackle" the health care crisis? She's drafted a letter to Senate leadership and then she wants to pass a resolution. I bet the insurance and pharmaceutical industries are just quaking in their boots.

Overdue, she says? The last time Sen. Collins felt overcome by the ambition to fix America's broken healthcare system was in 2002. If my math is correct, that was six years ago. You know, when she was up for reelection the last time. And I was her Democratic opponent.

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There's a stiff competition raging at the Democracy for America website -- they've nominated almost 100 candidates to compete for the title of DFA Grassroots All-Star Congressional. My boss, Chellie Pingree, is truly a grassroots all-star, as campaign volunteer and long-time DFA organizer Alison Smith of Portland so aptly describes below. Her opinion is echoed by John Nichols in this week's post in The Nation, as he describes Chellie as part of "a trend that has seen veteran social activists drawn into politics by their frustration with extreme Republicans and cautious Democrats."

You can vote for Chellie here: http://democracyforamerica.com/gras

Democracy for America, the successor organization to Howard Dean's amazing grassroots presidential campaign, is having a contest to name a Grassroots All-Star for 2008. Many terrific congressional candidates from all around the country have been nominated, and the competition is fierce! Much more than a mere online poll, the winner of this contest will have the benefit of DFA's nationwide network of deeply committed progressive activists.

Maine's Chellie Pingree is exactly the kind of person we all think of when we wish that good people would run for office. That's why I voted for her in the DFA competition. More importantly, she is exactly what the Democratic party needs to strengthen its progressive backbone... especially in the United States Congress.

Before Chellie entered politics, she was a mom, an organic farmer and a small business owner, but most importantly, Chellie was an engaged citizen. Her first forays into the political world - running for tax assessor and for the school committee - sprang directly from her involvement in her community.

Whenever Chellie gets involved with something, she ends up leading. She won a seat on the school committee and wound up chairing it. She later won a seat in the State Senate and wound up as Majority Leader. (cont.)

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